Saipan – Connoisseurs of Experiences

As part of the 2023 Iwo Jima tour, there was a pre-tour to Saipan and Tinian. As in the past, we staged for these tours out of Agana, Guam. There were five passengers going to these islands ahead of the tour of Iwo Jima, the main attraction of the tour.

I met everybody in Guam at the Dusit Beach Resort. The next day we flew to Saipan, a brief one hour flight. After checking in to our hotel we went back to Saipan International Airport (formally Aslito Airfield) and flew the short distance to Tinian for our one day tour of that island battlefield. We flew back later in the afternoon and spent the night in Saipan before beginning our two-day tour of the battlefields. We had very good weather throughout our visit to both islands except for an occasional brief rain squall.

The Mariana Islands lies about 1500 miles south of Tokyo. Iwo Jima is about halfway between the two. Guam is located about 13 degrees above the equator.

This is a map of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Guam, geologically part of the Marianas, is a U.S. Territory; it is not politically part of the CNMI

This is a map of Saipan during the war. The 2nd Marine Division landed on Red and Green beaches and the 4th Marine Division landed on Blue and Yellow beaches. The 4th Division quickly captured the southern quarter of the island, including Aslito Airfield. They pivoted north and advanced up the eastern side of the island. The 2nd Division wheeled left and proceeded up the west side of the island. Eventually, the 27th ID of the US Army was inserted in-between the two Marine divisions. The three divisions then advanced to the north to Marpi Point.

The Blue beaches where the 4th Marine Division landed.

This pier was the divisional boundary between the 4th and 2nd Marine Divisions. The 4th landed on the left and the 2nd landed on the right.

This is likely one of the Red beaches where the 2nd Marine Division landed.

After visiting the invasion beach we went to a private museum to see war relics. It was quite an impressive collection.

We visited a privately owned museum where we saw these American hand grenades – all inert.

This is a Japanese Arisaka rifle with the chrysanthemum intact. After the war the Japanese ground off this imperial emblem before surrendering them to the Americans.

The emperor (Hirohito) was a god to the Japanese and to die in his service was the supreme act an individual could undertake. To die for the emperor was to become a young god. It was with this belief that young men could crash their planes into the decks of enemy ships as kamikazes. With this belief in the emperor and for that which represents him, i.e., his crest (the chrysanthemum), it is understandable how it could be an insult to him to allow equipment stamped with his crest to fall into the hands of the enemy.

The sixteen-petal chrysanthemum, the symbol of the divine Japanese Emperor, was removed from equipment (rifles) before delivering them into the hands of the barbarians (the Americans).

After the surrender, Japanese soldiers had to lay down their arms. When it was learned that the rifles were going to be taken home by the Americans as souvenirs, Japanese civilians used files to deface the chrysanthemum symbol. This was the only way the Japanese agreed to surrender their rifles to the United States to be used as souvenirs of war. They believed the disfiguring of the symbol would destroy any special religious or power specially provided by the Gods of War. Every rifle which was to be surrendered had to be defaced in this manner. The bayonets that went with the rifles had a mark on them also, but this mark was merely the armament mark signifying where the bayonet was made, and these marks were not disfigured.

The sixteen pedal chrysanthemum, the imperial Japanese symbol.

The island of Tinian is in the distance only 3 miles from Saipan. North Field is on the right side of Tinian.

A Japanese bunker overlooking the cliffs facing Tinian.

This is the inside of the ammunition magazine.

This is a typical Japanese air raid shelter. They are the same all over the Western Pacific.

This is the interior of the air raid shelter.

This is a Japanese Type 95 Ha Go tank. These did not last long in battle and were relatively easy to knock out.

Saipan International Airport, formally Aslito Airfield during the war. This was the airport we used to go to Tinaian, which can be seen in the distance on the right. It was a ten-minute flight.

Tinian on the horizon. North Field is on the right.

Looking west toward the Philippines Sea from the summit of Mt. Topochau.

This is the view from the summit Mt. Topochau, the highest point on Saipan.

This is the view from the summit Mt. Topochau, the highest point on Saipan. The island of Tinian is in the distance. The airstrip in the center is where the old Aslito field was located. This is the airfield that we took off and landed on when we went to Tinian.

This is my group on the summit of Mt. Topochau. The young couple joined us. They are from Utah and he is a United Airlines pilot. Looks awfully young to be a pilot. We enjoyed talking with them. L to R: Lou, young couple, Craig, Tom, John, Bob, and Dana.

The Philippine Sea to the west as seen from Mt. Topochau.

This is supposedly the last command post of the Japanese command. It is now mostly an outdoor museum with Japanese guns, a tank, and other weapons.

Inside of the supposed last Japanese command post.,

The table-top island is called Forbidden Island. It is accessible but it can be dangerous, hence the name. People have been known to be swept off the top by rogue waves.

Another view from where we got the view of Forbidden Island.

The Japanese jail was built between 1929 and 1930 on the orders of the Japanese administration. Previously, prisoners were held in a small detention facility that had been built during the German administration. Be the late 1920s, however, it was no longer adequate to accommodate the needs of a rapidly growing population. The walls of the two cell blocks and the adjacent administration building were of concrete construction with wood and tin roofs. In the early days, the jail was surrounded by a security fence made of wood and tin. Sometime later, possibly after the start of the war, a portion of the security fence was replaced by a concrete wall. Immediately to the south of the jail was Buddhist Temple, which had an associated crematorium and graveyard. During World War II, two U.S. pilots were held in the jail. Both died during the pre-invasion bombardment and were temporarily buried in the Buddhist cemetery. Popular lore has it that the famous American flyer, Amelia Earhart, was held at this jail after she disappeared on her 1937 round-the-world flight although there is no conclusive evidence to support this story.